


Curiosity

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cute Liam, Cute Louis, Cute everyone damnit, Just you wait - Freeform, Larrrryyyy, Like really cute, M/M, Photographer Harry, cute ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-17 06:06:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1376629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry always tended to fall in love with things that sparked his curiosity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One:A Friendly Manner

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on Wattpad, under the same name for both the fic and my username <3

_Tip One: Greet your roommate in a friendly manner._

Harry sat on a bed, assuming it was his from the way the other simply held a disregarded suitcase, and drew a book from his bag. He grinned sheepishly, reading the cover.

_How To Fit In At College_

_College can be a difficult time for even the social butterflies among us, but with this simple guide you can stumble your way through, and perhaps make a few friends on the way! From parties to roomies, dates to studies, use this book as your guide!_

_Written by Gemma Styles_

He was proud of his sister, of course, for getting her first book offer, but not so much that she had decided to use him as a guinea pig for her guide.He understood though, he was exactly the person this book was for. Awkward, clumsy first years at college who had no clue what to expect. He fit the description perfectly. On the other hand, his sister had completed college, bringing with her not only a whole army of friends, but one dedicated fiance, James, who had helped her to publish her book along with his fathers company.

He skimmed along the introduction, and notes about the author, to the first section. It was simply titled: Getting Settled In. He guessed, that this chapter would be about just that, and turned to the first page of it.

_Tip One: Greet Your Roomate In A Friendly Manner._

_Make sure to treat your roomie with the utmost respect, but try not to come across as clingy or friendless, even if you are. Act casual and deal with the situation as it comes._

What kind of advice was that? What if Harry's roomate was a nudist? What if Harry's roomate hated people?What if Harry hated his roomate (even though he had never hated someone before) or vice versa? Harry calmed himself. Act casual and deal with the situation as it comes. Being the mature person he was, he giggled a little at the innuendo in the sentence. Harry decided that he might as well unpack.

He placed his clothes in a wardrobe sat next to his bed, setting up his iPod dock on a small desk he had brought along with him, one that folded up under his bed if needed. He snuck a few private items under his bed in a shoebox, along with Gemma's book and his photo album. His camera was proudly placed on the desk, ready for whenever he decided to face society, as he would most likely take it with him. He found it easier to observe through a camera, that way anything that caught his eye would be captured. He felt it was necessary, sometimes, to hide behind the shutters. Which, as it goes, was a good metaphor for his personality. He occasionally opened up, almost immediately shutting back up, but keeping an imprint of the actions within the time span of his trust.

He hung up a few posters on the wall, of what his sister and the few friends he had invited to his room called 'Hipster bands'. Harry always scoffed at that. He wasn't a hipster. And if he was, he was a damn cool hipster.  He walked over to the small kitchenette, spotting a few snacks and food items laying around, and putting them away in a more orderly fashion. He had brought cutlery and fruit, as well as less healthy snacks, of course! He was making himself seem all goody-goody and not macho! Harry was macho! Well, everyone but Harry himself disagreed but thats a minor bump in the road.

He moved back into the bedroom-area, lying down on his bed, onto to discover his feet hung over the end of it. He frowned, shifting around to fit onto his bed. Harry didn't realise when he had started growing, causing him to be out of proportion and unable to control his long arms and lanky torso. He was known for being overly clumsy. He had met Ed Sheeran, and was now quite great friends with him, by tripping over and breaking his guitar whilst he (Ed, not Harry) was busking. Harry had shyly complimented his singing, telling him he'd be famous with his 'amazing' standard of singing, and offered to buy a new guitar. Ed had simply waved it off, and it wasn't until later that Harry discovered Ed already was famous, when they were getting coffee and a girl asked for Ed to sign something. Harry had been quite shocked, but they had kept in touch, and Harry was now a great fan of Ed's music, owning most of it, along with various remixes and covers by people he liked.

Ed had been the first Harry had told he was gay, outside of his family, and Ed had welcomed him with open arms, making Harry confident enough to tell his other friends and, eventually, the whole school. He had taken quite a few bad comments, but now he was proud, and accepted wholy. The whole college thing scared him though. What if people weren't as accepting here? Harry was used to overall acceptance, with the few against him being ignored or quitened by teachers, who had taken a liking to Harry. Ed had been there the first time Harry had informed a girl he was gay, when she was flirting with him, and Harry barely heard the end of it. When Harry thought about it, he should connect with Ed again, having not seen him in a while.

As Harry debated calling Ed, two figures burst through the door, kissing, or well, snogging viciously. The bodies crashed slightly into a wall, landing on the opposite bed to Harry, who guessed at least one of these figures was 'Zayn', his roomate. The figures seemed to both be male, which kinda ruled out any fears of Harrys roomate being homophobic. One seemed to have a darker skin, and hair, his fingers tangled in his partners chocolate brown,short, quiffy style. The second had his arms wrapped around the first's waist, grabbing it intimately, and Harry decided he should probably speak up. He coughed quietly, and they pulled apart. The second one looked guilty, blush littered across his cheeks, puppy eyes standing out along with the scruff on his chin. He was undoubtedly attractive, as was the first boy. The first, on the other hand, simply smirked at the second, amber eyes showing a slight lust and longing for the boy that was undoubtedly younger than him, if only by a few months.

''Well..urm..Hi?'' Harry awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. He had never really seen anyone else get intimate, and he seldom did it himself. Much less when a roomate could have seen. Especially since he'd only ever shared a room with Gemma or Ed, who would never shut up about it if he did such a thing.''I'm Harry, I'm guessing one of you is Zayn-And hopefully the other his boyfriend, not a random hookup, because that would be awkward for me and you and everyone and really I wouldn't appreciate constant random hookups, not that you can't do that--You do that, I mean, go get some, just-Not while I'm here, and-Shit, I'm rambling, fuck this is awkward.'' He ran a hand through his hair, keeping his eyes on the rips in the knees of his jeans rather than the couple that were surely looking at him like he was crazy by now.

''I'm Zayn, and this is Liam, my boyfriend.'' The tanned boy introduced himself, or at least Harry discovered when a tan hand was grabbing his, shaking it. He seemed to have a possessive growl at the word 'boyfriend', making Harry wonder if he had perhaps offended either with his small rant. He probably had. First day and he's already ignored a tip in his sisters stupid book. ''Hate to be rude but-uh, wheres Danny?'' Harrys head snapped up at that, eyebrows furrowing. He hadn't heard of any Danny.

''I don't know a Danny, sorry.''He apologised. Zayn looked confused, and Liam looked kind of lost now that Zayn was away from him. Harry thought it was adorable, how Liam seemed to be so doting on Zayn, seemed to adore Zayn completely, and, in a way, that mistified Harry, and he was tempted to take a picture. He started fidgetting, as he did often when he saw things he wanted to document but was unable to. He knew it would be awkward, but his hands still wandered to his camera, playing with the strap, and he looked over, before blurting. ''I don't mean to seem rude, but could I possibly take a picture?'' He questioned, blushing immediately. Zayn looked even more confused at this, and Liam seemed to disregard it as not important to him. Harrys eyes flickered to where Liam looked around helplessly, not knowing what to do. He didn't realise he had taken a picture until he had, and looking over it he grinned. It captured exactly what Harry wanted it to.

''Did you just take a picture of my boyfriend?'' Zayn growled, snatching the camera from Harry, and Harry whined. Why couldn't people ever understand? It was a cute token of how much Liam counted on Zayn, not a perverted image for Harry to wank over. Harry lazily reached up to take it back, before opting to explain.

''It's just-He just looked so unsure and lost when you moved away and its adorable.''Harry grinned sheepishly. ''Its interesting and from a certain angle, could make someone question what he was doing. He could have been waking from a hangover, looking around to see where he was. He could have been finally inside his crushes house, after a hookup, even though he knew his crush was drunk, he was still eager to do whatever he could, but was lost as soon as it was over. A picture has a million possibilities, and reality is often the best one.'' Harry was animatedly talking now, motioning around a bit.

''So you just...took a picture?'' Liam asked slowly. Harry was beginning to see why people questioned him so much. He would be unsure too, if a practical stranger was taking pictures of him, but Harry would probably be flattered, too. Who wouldn't be? Harry saw the world as a masterpiece, full of endless discoveries, and he thought the best way to discover it would be to capture it in ways that sparked curiosity. He believed curiosity created questions, and questions inspired answers.

''Its a hobby of mine. Taking pictures of things that make you question them. A candle lit next to an empty plate, a flower crushed next to a smashed picture frame, things that make you want to know what happened, make you come to conclusions, create your own story to explain it.'' Harry smiled, he enjoyed photography, along with music, greatly, they inspired him more than any other subject, and he was, if anything, overly interested in them. ''Its also great to find something flawed or broken, and to be able to make people see the beauty within the item.''

''Thats actually, pretty inspirational curly.'' Zayn petted his head, handing him back his camera, before going to sit next to Liam, who hugged into Zayns side. Harry quickly shot another picture, seeing it as a follow up to his first, or perhaps he could display them in the opposite order, to insigate more questioning, as to where Zayn had gone, if perhaps that was why Liam was disgruntled in the picture he took first.

''So, who is, or was, Danny?'' Harry questioned. He was not only good at making others question things, sometimes even themselves, but he was also known to be curious and a little nosy. He disliked secrets, and was quite the control freak in having to know a lot about people, when he tried to keep himself closed up. He easily opened up on the subject of his camera and photography, though.

''Danny was my roomate.'' Zayn explained, now fondly petting Liams hair. Harry nodded. ''We thought he'd be here this year, too, but turns out not. Doesn't really matter, he seemed to like my Liam a bit too much.'' Zayn chuckled to himself. ''Not nearly enough to take a picture of him right after being introduced though.'' Harry chuckled too, a little weakly. He didn't want to get on Zayns bad side, and it seemed the easiest route to there was Liam. It was adorable, Harry was a romantic himself, believed in what others would call 'sappy nonsense'. He believed in soul mates, and thought that the very definition sat before him. He grinned to himself at that thought, hoping he'd be friends with the two long enough to get invited to the wedding, and maybe see them adopt kids! Harry knew he was getting carried away, and noticed Zayn looking at him as if expecting a response, but Harry simply continued thinking of small tan children with cute button noses and birthmarks and cheekbones and little adorable crinkles by their eyes like Liam had while Zayn was near him and-Yeah he was definitely getting carried away. He blushed lightly.

''You two are too good together, I can tell within minutes of knowing you.'' Harry complimented. ''Even a heartless beast wouldn't mess that up. And I'm a RomCom man.'' It was true, Harry acted more of a teenage girl than the 20 year old man he was.He loved to gossip about boys, swooning over singers, actors and boybands.He enjoyed applying makeup (And if he ever wore it, no one but Gemma knew better). He even slipped into a dress a few times, and recently dressed up as Miley Cyrus for Halloween.

''Thanks.'' Liam blushed, and Harry nodded slightly towards him. It was obvious, really, to Harry, who the woman in the relationship was. Liam seemed to be embarassed and shy, whereas Zayn was more outgoing in regards to their relationship. Zayn also seemed to be quite dominant over Liam, adding to their chemistry in a way. Harry thought that one day he'd like a relationship like that.


	2. Chapter 2

'Maybe we should go see who your roomate is, Li, since Tom left last year.'' Zayn suggested, and Liam nodded immediately. Zayn turned towards Harry, as if asking if he would be joining them, and Harry shrugged, before nodding, picking up his camera and grabbing a small wallet in case, shoving it in his back pocket, hanging hiscamera around his neck. Harry grabbed Gemmas book, quickly flicking through it. As he did so, a page caught his eye.

_Tip Ten: Making friends should never be scary_

_Don't be nervous! Meeting people should be fun, try a carefree approach and you'll enjoy it more. Remember to be yourself, but don't come across as too overwhelming! Keep calm and embrace your fears!_

He disregarded the advice. He would be himself in any situation, he wasn't exactly a good actor. He had once got so nervous on stage that he forgot all his lines. Being twelve at the time, it was a very embarassing experience for him. He was always nervous and awkward, and he seemed to double in awkwardness when he grew, being even a little bit taller than a lot of people his age, and not being able to control his own body. He was a recipe for disaster.

Zayn raised an eyebrow at him as he threw the book to the bed. He simply shrugged, before following the couple out of the room. They walked outside, and Harry took in, yet again, the small trees with yellowing leaves, and the larger one placed in the centre of the small area. He grinned as he saw Liam leaning his head on Zayns shoulder, taking a picture from behind them. He couldn't really stress it enough, to himself, or other people, that he was a big, big fan of love. Even more so when it was two boys so open about their relationship.They seemed to get little strange looks, so Harry assumed people here would be accepting, and that again made him smile.

''Not to be rude or anything, are you gay Harry?'' Zayn asked, turning slightly to Harry as they approached the second building of dorms. Harry just nodded and shrugged a little, to show he was, but he didn't think it was appropriate information to thrust upon them, even if they burst into the room snogging, like they did. It also showed he didn't think it was rude. Even if  he was straight, why would he find it rude? People like that are terrible to Harry. He doesn't understand (he never did, even before he knew he was gay) people who don't accept others' love. He caught the eye of someone who was glaring at Liam and Zayn, and simply snapped a picture, knowing it would make people question what he was glaring at, and why. And if Harry were to tell them why, would they be upset? Would they agree with the mystery glarer? As Harry was getting caught up in his thoughts, he managed to bump into a tree.

''Did you just reallly-'' Liam burst out laughing, cutting himself off. Harry pouted, he had walked into trees before, and never really managed to walk for longer than ten minutes without walking into something. ''Are you okay?'' Harry nodded, making a hand gesture to continue walking. He was eager, in a way, to see how Liams new roomate would react to the couple. He was also eager to see how Liam organised things. He seemed to be quite an organised person, and Harry was glad Liam was already opening up to Harry, because Harry would quite like to know about these two. He liked to know things other people would find stupid.

''I hope he doesn't mind Harry.'' Zayn teased. ''I can already tell he's pretty weird.'' Harry again shrugged, he knew he wasn't exactly normal. This was why his sister thought he should know how to 'fit in'. Harry wasn't the biggest fan of the idea, as he had expressed to her. He thought originality and being himself was a lot more fun than social status or friends. Not that he hates being social, he likes having friends, he would just rather have friends that like him for all his weird quirks, than friends that didn't like him at all.

''At least I can keep my hormones down, sheesh, if I had a boyfriend I'd go snog him in front of you now .'' Harry teased, knowing he made little sense. He hadn't had a boyfriend, ever, really. He had hooked up with men, even hooked up with women before knowing he was gay. He had kept up a small friends with benefits thing with a friend Ed had introduced him to, Nick, but Nick had gotten a job in radio, and hadn't contacted Harry since. Too famous for Harry, now.

''Not got a boyfriend?'' Zayn asked, and Harry nodded. ''But you're-well, sorry Li, but you're fit!'' Harry blushed. He knew he was okay-looking. He hadn't really looked at himself in the mirror in a while, because Harry preferred not to become vain or obsessed with his reflection. He had a habit of picking out his own flaws. Like the second set of nipples he had. That wasn't hard to find, and it was an extreme oddity in his body that others seemed to get fascinated with. Or the acne that popped up every now and then on his forehead, despite being past the greasy teenage stage of his life.

''Heyyy!'' Liam whined, as they approached and entered the second buildings doorway. They turned left, towards stairs, and Harry internally sighed. ''Not a lie though. On the other hand the hair seems a bit wild at the minute.'' Harry chuckled. He hadn't brushed or styled his hair today, making it a long mess of curls around his head, like a mane. He didn't even try to contain it, as per usual, with a headband or scarf.He realised how stupid he must look, and was tempted to run back to the dorm just to tame it, but instead continued up the stairs with the happy couple ahead of him.

As they walked down the corridor, that Harry assumed Liams room was on, Harry noticed a bit of grafiti and noted that this seemed to be less clean than Harrys dorm building. He felt a little guilty, but then saw they were at a door, which Harry asummed was Liams'. Zayn knocked, and Harry noted that he was probably cautious after the strange meeting that had occurred back in their room. 

''Come in!'' A voice with a noticable Irish accent called, and Liam pushed the door open, entering, pulling Zayn along by the hand, Harry following like a lost puppy. The boy on the bed was pale, in contrast to the dark sheets on his bed, and that was the first thing Harry noticed, being a fan of contrrast in his photography and life in general. He saw that the boy had blonde hair, brown at the roots, informing Harry that he had dyed it. Harry slowly shut the door, before turning back to the room. Zayn and Liam were already on what Harry thought would be Liams bed. The Irish boy had sat up, eagerly, a smile on his face. He, too, seemed to have noticed the obvious loving glances. '' 'm Niall. Niall Horan. Irish, if ya couldn't tell.'' He grinned, and Harry noticed how happy he seemed to be.

''Well, I'm Liam, your roomate, this is Zayn, my boyfriend, and Harry, his weirdo roomate who tagged along to take pictures.'' Harry stuck his tongue out immaturely at Liam, as he gestured towards Harry. Scanning over the room, Harry saw that Nialls half seemed messy, whereas Liams looked neat and organised, as expected. Were there not people within the room, Harry would have taken a picture to show this. Niall gestured for Harry to sit next to him on the bed, and Harry took him up on the offer. ''I hate to sound stupid but you're okay with me and Zayn right?''

''Sure, bisexual m'self. Not much of a hypocrite.'' Niall shrugged. Zayn wiggled his eyebrows at that, and Harry sighed. He was a little scared, to be honest, of a relationship. He had only ever had two, with girls, that had been broken off by the others in the relationship. One of the girls, Kendall, the more recent one, had found out he was bisexual (As he believed he was at the time), and thought that meant he would cheat with a boy. She wasn't the cleverest. He had given up on relationships, slowly figuring out that he preferred boys, before realising girls really did nothing for him anyway. His family were accepting and kind about it, Gemma using it as a joke. That had been when he was 18, and Ed had figured he was gay when he and Kendall split up, when Harry was seventeen. Ed assuming things about Harry helped him to find out his sexuality. Harry didn't realise the others were talking, off in his own world, until Niall clicked his fingers in front of his face.

''What were you thinking about, Harry?''Zayn enquired, raising an eyebrow, and Harry shrugged. ''Tell us!'' Zayn whined, wanting to know. Harry sighed. Would it be okay to tell his new friends about his famous friend? Harry decided not to.

''Y'know, just my friends and family back home.'' He shrugged. He wasn't lying, just stretching the truth.Harry had often found himself doing so when speaking about himself. It was a strange habit, and he could never really justify it, but it happened. Harry shrugged, and jumped into their conversation about their families.

 


End file.
